The Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) is responsible for financing the referendum on the draft constitution, speaker of the House of Representatives (HOR) Aguila Saleh said on Monday.
He added that the HOR would rely on the interim government in providing the funds needed if the GNA failed to financially support the poll.
“If the draft constitution was rejected, a special committee will work on drafting a new one,” Saleh said, adding that elections would be held after the referendum even if its outcome was the rejection of the draft constitution.
He explained that the country needs a unified executive authority and a president to resolve its current crisis.
Saleh was elected parliamentary speaker after 2014 polls.
In a previous statement, the head of the High National Elections Commission (HNEC), Emad Al-Sayeh, said the preparations for the constitutional referendum could take up to the middle of January and that the referendum could take place by the end of February.
Libya remains divided between the UN-backed GNA, based in Tripoli and led by Faiez Sarraj, and a rival government in the east led by Abdullah Al-Thani and supported by the Commander of the Libyan National Army, Khalifa Haftar, who is backed by Egypt, Russia, and the UAE.
The constitutional referendum will pave the way for Libya’s democratic process and presidential elections, which was originally set for late 2018. However, the date was postponed under a new initiative led by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) to hold them in spring 2019.
